Town of Waldo Moves to a Separate Election Day for Its Municipal Officers
WALDO — Beginning in 2026, voters in the town of Waldo will choose their municipal officers in a secret ballot election prior to town meeting, with absentee ballots accepted for 30 days before the election is held.
Following Maine's traditional process, only Waldo voters who attended the annual town meetings (usually about 50 people) have elected the municipal officers with nominations from the floor. They wrote their choice on a slip of paper and dropped it into a ballot box to be tallied by the town clerk. Those 50 attendees spoke for Waldo's entire population, now about 800.
In the "new" process (c.1890) approved at a special town meeting Oct. 25, future candidates will obtain nomination papers, collect signatures from 25 registered Waldo voters and return the papers by a deadline. The town clerk will create a ballot, including a write-in line, for registered voters to fill out in a booth at the Community Building on a specified election day, a day or two before the annual town meeting. Absentee voting will be open for 30 days prior to the election. Many Maine towns today hold separate elections.
“We will basically treat our elections like a bigtime election — with ballots and absentee ballots so everyone can vote. Even if they can’t come to town meeting, they will have a vote,” Select Board member Ian Stover told the Midcoast Villager. “In my opinion, this is way better — everybody is getting a chance to vote, rather than having to come to town meeting.”
https://www.midcoastvillager.com/news/local/town-of-waldo-moves-to-a-separate-election-day-for-its-municipal-officers/article_66846b80-2a3d-4e5c-848b-eafb15243010.html